 |
Rescue, rehabilitation, release, and follow-up monitoring of bottlenose dolphin “Filly”
By Randall Wells, PhD
A young (1.5 years old) female calf (“Filly”) of a dolphin known from our research efforts in waters to the south of Sarasota Bay, was observed near Mote Marine Lab with healed boat propeller wounds on her caudal peduncle (tail stock) and monofilament fishing line trailing from one of the wounds at the insertion of her flukes on 12 December 2006. She re-appeared 5 weeks later, and after subsequent observations indicated that she was unable to shed the line on her own (Figure 1), we performed a rescue capture on 30 January 2007. 
Figure 1. “Filly” with line trailing from multiple constrictive wraps of line at the insertion of her flukes.
Upon examination, it was determined that the line was too deeply embedded for field treatment, and she was admitted to Mote Marine Laboratory’s dolphin hospital. Three constricting wraps of monofilament line down to the level of the bone were removed in two surgeries, and she was released in good health after three months of rehabilitation. She was freezebranded and tracked via small VHF radio transmitter over the next month, and then disappeared unexpectedly. A combination of factors, including her extreme young age (1 year) at the time of premature separation from her mother (mother remained in the area, but not with Filly), loss of high frequency hearing, and a tendency to swim in areas of recreational fishing as indicated by small pieces of line collected on her radio transmitter, may have contributed to her disappearance and probable death.
 |
Figure 2. Sightings of “Filly”, before and after treatment for her fishing line injuries. |
|
|
